ORIGINAL: on_your_six
It seems as this is entirely an American personality trait.... I would have thought that RC builders from other parts of the world would have exhibited similar characteristics.
Then again, the rest of the world is financially much better off and I am sure they don't need to recover the bits and pieces from crashed airplanes, or maybe they are much better pilots and don't crash to begin with... yes, that is it.
Gents,
We Dutch modelers are realy cheapest of all. I am not extraordinary, but average.
First look at the language, a lot of faults I think, but when you uderstand it, it's alright. Time is money
Look at the photograph 1.
My (second) transmitter, made in 1966 or '67. I used my first one to make this one because the transistors were very expensive in the past!! Sticks made of old tumbler and microswitches
I lost my receivers and one servo so I needed a new one these days and built me one. Old School!
How?
Some pieces of epoxy circuit board, cut some fields with a knive, and soldered the components ot the top surface.
The transistors are old germanium types. The superregeneratieve transistor, AF106 is from an old 40 years old radio tuner for example. Capacitors normaly are exchanged when reusing old radio systems. I don't, I use these again, the round blue capacitors, electrolitic are also from that 40 years old radio too.
The four tone filter coils are as old as the way to Rome and incomplete so cheap, but, the relais are modern, from an old microwave. I adjusted the parts to make them sensitive to use, and added a third (normally closed) contact.
The modulation transformer in the transmitter is hand made. I used an old power device transformer.
The black coils of the tone selectiv filters are hand made too. Total amount of windings? About 1300 windings in the transformer and 400 in each coil of the receiver so 1600, is totall about 3000 windings, added some 150 of the squelch and receiver coils in the receiver.
Servo's? Two old Simprop Tiny proportional servos, electronics removed and switches installed, made of a small fortune (LOL) of real silver wire.
A lot of resistors and diodes are of scrap circuit boards of a telephone and radio.
So, what do I have, for nearly nothing an investment?
A four channel double simultaneous transitter and superregenerative receiver with relais output and two double channel centralizing servo's,
Current draw of the transmitter, about 35 mA at 12 VDC and te receiver, 10 a 30 mA depending of the signals I transmit.
Servos? Depending on load 50 a 100 mA for the short moments otherwise 0 mA. Accupacks? cheap NiHi for many many hours of control pleasure.
Range, tested 860 meters, at ground surfac, but restricted by circumstances, probably more than 1000 m. In the air.... at least a mile,maybe two.
Most interesting fact,
All modelers are hopping around in a small 2.4 GHz RF radiobox with complicated radios, capable of control 50 airplanes each.
I built for the same money 50 radios I can use in the rest of the radiospectrum!!
Picture 2? The circuit bard of my new radio. A RF tube used of an old tv set, ECC83, Google for that. If I have one moment of a glitch I blow it away with an second cheap scrath built converter to have some 100 VDC added to the already existing 100 VDC plate tension.
Photograph 3, cost reduction by using second hand plywood of a playing board of the kids, to make the transmiter casings
Power too the people,
Have fun.
Cees